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Toe Towing Works
It's not going to get any cooler or probably rain ever again so a friday call was made to ride from the OVT on Saturday.
Fudge, Fingers and Ash headed FT Al’s call. Ash turned up in the same van as the last ride. Quite unusual. The foursome rode east, avoiding the usual whoops at the start of the ride. After stirring up some resting roos and some topsoil the usual quarry was found. The idea was to find some other challenging hillclimbs. Mission accomplished. Number one hill climb saw FT Al use every bit of track to ascend with zero style but showing that a DRZ can easily change lanes up a hill. Fingers and Ash followed close behind then things went quiet. There was one big rock on the climb and Fudge had found it on the way up. No matter what the obstacle, you turn around and that screaming 250 Kwakka rolls in and settles to a perfect idle as if to say, ok, did that, what’s next? At least two new hill climbs have been added to the quarry’s repertoire. Ash learnt the word CapRock, and found out it is yet another Australian thing that is out to get you. Spiders, snakes, crocodiles and cap rock. Further north the next challenge was “The Hill” , attempted by many, mastered by few. Fingers had a gallant attempt but it was Ash who through skill and persistence, launched the 300 over the crest to join the illustrious few. Nice work Ash! Worth ROTD. Fingers noted that even though FT Al had stated the ride would be about 80 to 100 ks, we had already done 75 to this point so we headed towards the fuel station. If someone had had the presence of mind to make the fuel station a kilometre closer then we would have made it. Attempt one. Fudge pushed the stranded KTM using his foot on Fingers footpeg. Successful but exhausting. Someone suggested FT Al takes over, mainly because he was to blame for Fingers not taking his extra fuel. ( She’ll be right, we’ll be passing the fuel station ) Attempt two. FT Al towed using the secret art of footpeg towing as seen in the photo. Following Fudges idea to stand on the trailing end of the tow rope worked a treat until Fingers started some form of acrobatics. Refuel and Reenergize was going to plan until Fingers noticed the KTM was leaking fuel from the carby overflow tubes faster than he could pump it in. The carby float had got stuck in the empty position. After tapping, hitting, laying all sorts of abuse on the bike, the problem was solved. I knew Fingers had enough tools to strip and rebuild the 300 so we all had faith. If you want to feel safe on a ride, my tips are: Go with a mechanic with more tools than Supercheap. ( Fingers ) Go with a Paramedic for health insurance ( WRex ) Go with someone with an uncanny ability to return to your cars. ( Pounce, Tommy or Mick450) Finally a ride along the ridge that used to be used for camel rides….there you go boys, a bit of local history. A bit of single track and the fun was over. I still can’t get the sound of “ring ting ting” out of my head after being chased by two fast strokers and a pesky green machine all day, they sure are hard to shake, I’m sure at least one of them was tied to the back of the DRZ. Thanks for riding lads. FT AL |